Review

1984 is wholly drowning in science-fiction oddities. Some of them fail miserably and others are quaint and retreaded, though sort of intriguing. Night of the Comet is unabashedly open to taking in influences from many mediums and genres, sort of crafting a romance story around a science-fiction tale, capping it with humor and drama alike. Night of the Comet isn’t particuarly good, but for what it does, you come to appreciation the seamlessness of making so many types of movies in one and having it turn less into a hodge podge mess and something not entirely pretentious. Night of the Comet is quiet for all its exaggerated tendencies, and the film comes and goes without making a huge splash, but a quiet simmer that will stick for some time. Like a slow kiss and not meaningless mediocre sex, Night of the Comet is pretty and interesting, and for sci-fi in the 80’s, that’s about as modest as it gets.

Reason to Watch

Night of the Comet does a lot right, and doesn’t focus on one thing to drive the characters through their silly story.

Context

The film’s charming elements are helped further by a story that actually sort of makes sense, something akin to a god-like impossibility in mid-80’s science-fiction realm.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

Willy: You wouldn’t believe what we want from you. In your worst nightmare you wouldn’t believe.

Regina Belmont: C’mon Hector, the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives.

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

A nice cup of coffee and your viewing glasses, this contradicts the absurdity with a little bit of wholesome goodness

Trivia

The original working title for the film was Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies.

The Shopping Mall featured in Night of the Comet was the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The Galleria has been used for several movies including Terminator and Fast Times at Ridegmont High.

Educational Content

If famed gruesome horror/children’s film director Robert Rodriguez likes something, it’s probably good

Malls are creepy when empty

If Night of the Comet does something right, they remind you that Dawn of the Dead is a good movie

Justification for Rating

Unlike many cult films, Night of the Comet is a legitimate engrossing movie. it takes influences from many different sources, yet on its own, its a nice mix of many different things that work well together, as opposed to a blender of random items that make a chunky gross brown smoothie.

ScifiComments Off on Review of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Rating:

Review

On the surface, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is not a good move. I would not disagree if you though it was, in fact, a terrible abysmal film. Yet Buckaroo Banzai does something few films have managed to do well- it was brilliantly spoofed the entire science-fiction genre. it has played on the cliches and basic ideological bullshit stuffed into them, while being engrossing and entertaining throughout. The film is smarter and better than most its peers, and stands as just a ridiculous example of film making. Everything about this film cries out as being the last calling card for all sci-fi byproducts. None are greater than the one that single-handedly mocked all the cliches of the times in one fell swoop.

Reason to Watch

Buckaroo Banzai might kick your ass if you do not. Personally, I like my ass intact and have ordered a new copy of Buckaroo Banzai Across whatever through Amazon.

Context

It’s like Dune, except not as pretentious and bloated and more streamlined and awesome.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

John O’Connor: They’re only monkey-boys. We can crush them here on earth, Lord Whorfin.

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

An awesome open mind and appreciation for Banzai, the Chuck Norris of his time.

Trivia

The latitude and longitude recited by the technicians during the “alignment” of the Oscillation Overthruster are the coordinates of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

President Widmark is clearly intended to look and sound like Orson Welles, who directed and starred in the radio presentation of “War of the Worlds” referenced in the film.

Educational Content

Well, for starters, there is an 8th dimension

Science fiction films as a whole are sort of dumb, no matter how many dimensions they add

Justification for Rating

However you spin it, this science fiction spoof is smarter, wittier, and basically superior to any legitimate science-fiction film ever made. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy holds its own as a film, but this came out decades before and stands the test of the time as the final capstone on terrible science-fiction, and what a way to bow out.

Review

With a title such as Tokyo Fist you may expect something akin to Kung Pow:Enter the Fist or a Bruce Lee cross-over flick, adorning more to comedy trite than ruthless violence. Tokyo Fist is unrelenting, gruesome, and merciless in its presentation. Sort of like The Passion of the Christ, except with less Jesus and more twenty-something Asian amateur boxers. Despite its violence, the film is drowning in melodramatic bullshit that would make a sixty-something American Lifetime move fan roll her eyes. Yet if you can manage pass the drama, and there is a lot of it, you find some unrelenting sequences of pure pain and horror, where the two lead characters bash each other’s faces in, echoing the sentiments of the late 90’s flick, Fight Club. tokyo Fist is angry at something, maybe the actors, because the director truly run these kids through the ringer of what a face can handle.

Reason to Watch

For the girls, lots of shirtless ripped men. For the guys, these men beat the living fuck out of eachother. Win win.

Context

Tokyo Fist is the antithesis of visually charged spectacles of Japanese fighting culture. It’s like they took Rambo and Rocky, added a sprinkle of love quadrangle romance, added two Asian leads, and threw blood over everyone and everything. Though Tokyo Fist seems to be trying to tell us something about violence and human nature, and I can’t quite pinpoint it. oh well, time to watch Rambo: First Blood Part 2 in 3-D for the umpteenth time.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

Tsuda: At least I don’t have problems with staying awake anymore.

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

An empty stomach

Trivia

This is director Shinya Tsukamoto’s second film, one that is just as unapologetic as his debut, Tetsuo.

Educational Content

If you punch someone’s face hard enough, their face will explode

Even people in Tokyo are lonely

Justification for Rating

The movie has a message, but it doesn’t drown out the simple fact that people beat the hell out of each other, and it looks painful and it’s simply brutal and there are consequences when it occurs in real life. But since this is Tokyo and that place is real far away, we can just pretend this is a crazy Japanese game show, so we fill no emotional or moral obligation to address anything the film has to say.

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Review

I don’t think Santa Sangre was meant to be as weird as it is. Some movies try so hard to be odd, and it often comes across as phony or self-parody. Santa Sangre is the most non-intentionally weird move ever devised. It has nothing to do with Santa Claus (at least I don’t think) and more to do with talking fish and circuses. Santa Sangre utilized the flash-forward before Lost made it cool, and takes advantage of Down Syndrome illness more than any other film. The film is also intensely violent and absurd beyond any sort of literal understanding. Santa Sangre may be a huge metaophor for child abuse, but it also has enough circus tricks to fit in a Cirque De Soleil script. You can’t come to terms with the film’s oddities any more than you can understand why your mom insists on Santa Claus being real even in your twenties.

Reason to Watch

Jesus makes a cameo appearance. The real Jesus, so that is pretty cool or whatever.

Context

italy and Mexico don’t usually deprive such entertainment, more known for their stuffiness and their illegal immigrants respectively, but for one reason or another, Santa Sangre just sort of works, even if it isn’t really saying anything at all about anything we can understand.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

Concha: Without me you are nothing. No one sees you and no one notices you. Just like your stupid hero.

Concha: It’s always roosters or swans! You never see anything else in your ridiculous hallucinations.

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

Let’s just be honest here and nothing except shrooms and an Amazon frog can really make you come to sense and preparation for this thing.

Trivia

As a tribute to Mexican horror films, Santa Sangreincludes a scene with masked wrestlers and a “superwoman” named La Santa.

The line spoken during the death of the elephant (The Elephant is Dying) is used as the opening line of “What’s up with You” – a song by Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson, of all combinations

Educational Content

You cannot atone for your sins by asking politely and sacrificing an animal

When a character hallucinates, even the smallest trivial problem is insurmountable

Justification for Rating

If senselessness is directly proportional to quality, a 7 will do perfectly here.

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Review

Battle Royale is quite a movie. Set in a dystopian future, 42 students are collected onto an island and forced to kill each other until one remains. that one “wins,” and survives. This is a televised event called Battle Royale, and happens yearly. Here is the premise, and the plot barely goes beyond that. Every teenage archetype is accounted for- nerd, jock, slut, main boring protagonist. The film is certainly Japanese and has that prototypical vibe, but it does a lot more than that through its use of messages and thematic elements. Battle Royale is violent and gruesome, and the characters are paper thin, but for those who want a message, it;s there. For those who want to see young Japanese girls killing kids with scythes, that’s here for you as well.

Reason to Watch

Context

for those who can look beyond the punishingly merciless premise, they will come to find a tragic and thought-provoking tale of the young put into a position that is, quite literally, life or death. It represents a wholly satisfying take on survivalism, and holds nothing back in its delivery and execution.

Most Memorable Quote(s)

Chigusa: Shouldn’t you be worried about your life, instead of that useless micropenis of yours?

Mitsuko: This is my weapon. I thought it was so-so, but actually, it’s not so bad. Found Yoshimi and Kuramoto dead next door – strung up all cozy together. Not my scene! I’ll never die like THAT!

What You Need to Get Through This Movie

The realization that this has subtitles, so you idiots out there who hate reading no matter the cost, go watch your crappy non-subtitled film. It’s probably worth noting that the dialogue is awfully silly, but then again, it is Japanese.

Trivia

Battle Royale is based on a novel, which also has a different ending than the film

Quentin Tarantino, famed director of Pulp Fiction and those overrated trite Kill Bill films states Battle Royale is one of his favorite films ever

The 15 volume manga, Battle Royale, began serialization in America in 2003, before the DVD release of the film in the States

A film sequel released independent to the film and novel. It was critically panned

Battle Royale released almost a full decade before “The Hunger Games” so before you speak, know your stuff

Educational Content

if you kill yourself, you die. If you ask for help, you die. if you team up with friends, they will kill you. Pots and pans are weaker than guns, and woman become crazy after wielding a scythe. there is also a master computer hacker in every 9th grade class.

Justification for Rating

Below all the unadulterated blistering violence, cheesy dialogue, and controversial bannings, lies a film that says far more than one would ever expect. Battle Royale just WORKS. It works beyond the “so bad it’s good” and it works despite the contrived dialogue. The pure insanity and premise is so intriguing and original at its time, it instantly classifies as a classic horror/action film among the peak of quality.